Sorry for all these posts...(maybe I should just get my own category instead of flooding the general forum area)...

ICAR and money.

First there are some contradictions:

Page 50 of the ICAR rule book mentions raising of taxes...yet, raising taxes is inflation, inflation was mentioned earlier as being unheard of (page 38).

Page 50 mentions money, yet there are no Banks, no stock markets since all money is controlled by the Imperium...

Whats the point of a citizen making money, storing it SOMEWHERE (since there is no bank, and all money are just digits on a card since it dosn't equivalate to a gold standard anymore), and being unable to pofit by it. Since profit cannot exist, since there is no stock market...no buying or selling of goods in order to make money....why would corporations exist at all?

So, I'm a bit confused by this...you are given money, but you can't make money since there is no economy...

I would suggest there be NO money and citizens just have a pay GRADE. If you want something higher than your GRADE..too bad its too expensive for you, and do away with the numbers forever.

But if you want to keep numbers, in a society without an economy, without inflation but WITH taxes...seems really flawed.

Any clarity on this would help! And sorry if this is annoying, I just want the material to be as clear and accurate as possible if I don't bring this up someone will! lol...

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nah, not annoying but perhapse you are just thinking too hard. none of these problems ever actualy came up, the pc's did their job got their credits and went along their way. also profit is not nessicarily tied to stock markets! after all profits were to be had before their introduction. if i sell you an apple and i get more from you than i paid for it then i made a profit yes? no stocks no bonds just cash.

of course i do remember a setting or two wheare after a computyer/robot rebelion they went to a strictly solid coin curenncy! haveing all those credits vanish or even get transfere to FUND the building of even more combat robots for the reveloution made them a mite....distrustfull of eletronic banking.

When I used to work in finance, I ran this system past a very switched on economist. He says the Icar system of economy is possible but would need some very important caveats to be in place.

The economy runs like this:

Imperium issues a unit of currency called an Imperial Credit (we'll just call it a credit). The 'worth' of 1 credit is 1 meal. No matter where you are, you always use credits to buy stuff. There are no other currencies (important caveat). Unlike a King, Government or Bank, the credit does not need to backed up by gold because no-one can turn around to the Imperium and demand something of worth. Everyone has agreed equally that the Imperial credit is to be worth what it says it is and that's final (important caveat).

When you do a day's work, the money is put on your Gaiacard. You have spent a part of your life generating something and someone has given you money for it. You then spend it on food, rent, toys and so on. Whoever is selling you that food will take your money, keep a bit and give a bit to the Imperium (Tax). The person selling you things will always charge you more than it costs to make, so they will make a profit. With their profit, they too will spend it on food, rent, toys etc. There is your basic economy. If you want to buy a car, save up credits on your Gaiacard and pay when you have enough. You can't get one on 'Finance' because that's banking - which is illegal.

The Imperium controls the amount of money in the economy by tax and subsidy. It taxes companies but it also gives colonies money for rebuilding (it's post war, don't forget). Sometimes subsidy is larger than tax, which causes growth.

You can't buy or sell shares in a company on a stock exchange, because that is banking and thus illegal. People can't save money in greedy accounts, nor can investment banks 'invest' in startup companies. Instead colonies provide grants to companies. As its a grant, there is no return - no percentage. So much is simplified if you just ban banking.

One other thing...

Raising taxes is not inflation. Inflation is caused by lots of things, for example when a government prints a load of money out of thin air (which happened in the US and UK).

Cool, I appreciate the fact that you got some solid research on this. Thanks for answering it and putting up with questions still.

I may collect these answers to my questions and put them into a document to be used as cannon reference piece for writers/developers. It makes sense not to overwhelm the game but it helps people like me to understand the rhyme/reason behind the mechanics better and to keep in-line with your vision.

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